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Crypto payments Bottle Pay shuts down due to EU’s new regulation”5AMLD”

Three months after raising a $2 million seed round, cryptocurrency payments startup Bottle Pay announced on Friday it is shutting down due to regulation pressure from the European Union (EU).

In a blog post, the UK-based firm said it will cease operating on Dec. 31 at 13:00 GMT due to concerns over EU’s 5th Anti-Money-Laundering-Directive (5AMLD), which is set to take effect in January 2020.

Bottle Pay stated in the blog post that they strongly disagree with the new regulation’s KYC rules and think these requirements would “alter the current user experience so radically, and so negatively, that we are not willing to force this onto our community.”

Bottle Pay said that to maintain their integrity as service providers, and to protect the interests of their team, investors, and users, they have taken the difficult decision to shut Bottle Pay down completely rather than become subject to these new regulations.

With the motto “Bitcoin payments easy and available to all”, Bottle Pay provided a browser extension tool that allowed users to send small bitcoin payments across social media platforms and messaging apps. The company told The Block in September that it had seen 100% month-over-month growth in the number of payments sent through social media platforms and chat apps like Twitter, Reddit, and Telegram. Users simply log on to Bottle Pay, link their social media accounts, send bitcoins to a Bottle Pay Lightning Network wallet, and begin making and receiving bitcoin payments.

What is the 5AMLD?

Compared to 4AMLD, which was enacted in 2017, 5AMLD imposes more stringent reporting obligations of cryptocurrency ownerships. The new directive requires exchanges and wallet providers to register with local authorities and authorize Financial Intelligence Units to obtain the addresses and identities of owners of virtual currency.

And 6AMLD was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 12 November 2018, with a transposition date of 3 December 2020. 6AMLD complements the criminal law aspects of 5AMLD. A key feature is that introduces a maximum jail term of at least four years for money laundering activities.

You can read about 4AMLD, 5AMLD, and 6AMLD here.

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